


A Place to Start

by keelywolfe



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Angst, Developing Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Spicyhoney - Freeform, Starvation, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans, Underswap Papyrus, Underswap Sans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 15:25:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15643554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelywolfe/pseuds/keelywolfe
Summary: Hunger was merciless, Edge knew, and so was Underfell but pity was not a replacement.





	A Place to Start

**Author's Note:**

> This story has mention of...eh, not exactly starvation but of being pretty damn hungry? I’m not sure how to warn for that or even if I need to, but I feel like I should. So yeah, make of that what you will.

* * *

Edge had been hurt in the past, many times. He'd dealt with injuries and pain, pushed his way through it and come out stronger on the other side. Pain was a form of motivation and one he knew well. 

Hunger, on the other hand, was merciless. The gnawing emptiness of it was impossible to ignore, left him restless and irritable. He would lose himself to brief daydreams, imagining food, perfect as it could only be in dreams; a golden casserole, a plateful of steaming tacos, meat and cheese overflowing from the shells, cakes and pastries that glistened with rich chocolate and colorful sprinkles. 

Those imaginings overcame him briefly as he sat at the Swap brother's table, watching Blue dish up generous servings of lasagna. Soft, fluid magic filled his mouth, coating his tongue, eager to dissolve that deliciousness and sate that nagging emptiness. 

He restrained himself to two servings. Red wasn't as discerning, already on his third, and it was not in him to limit Red…yet. His HP was always a concern and while he hadn't so much as fussed this past week, Edge knew he was as achingly hungry as he himself had been. 

"Did you skip lunch today?" Blue teased as Red helped himself yet again. 

"yeah, the supply lines have been pretty shaky lately," Red said around his current mouthful. "think our cupboards are down to soda crackers and mustard and even i don't like mustard enough to call that a banquet."

As thoughtless as ever, Edge thought sourly, and wasn't surprised that the Swap brothers were silent, staring at them openly in visible shock. Stretch, who had been poking absently at his own plate, dropped his fork and turned the full force of that stare on Edge, almost accusingly. Edge only glared back; he didn't owe Stretch any explanations even if they shared a bed from time to time.

"But…why didn't you come to us?" Blue said finally. He seemed wounded and bewildered, the normal stars of his eye lights fading to mere dots. "You'd be welcome anytime!"

"We don't need your charity," Edge said curtly. He crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to give in to the guilt that those sad eye lights were offering. 

Stretch's laugh broke the tension, brittle and cracking. "our charity? is that what you think it is? you two are in that place that's a hellhole to begin with –"

"hey, that's our hellhole you're talking about," Red said mildly. 

"—and now you're telling us that you were hanging out there starving, waited for fucking movie night to come over to get something to eat because you didn't want _charity_?"

"c'mon, it wasn't starving—" Red started, trailing off when Stretch stood up. He snatched his cigarettes and lighter from the end table and walked outside, the door slamming behind him.

The sound of it rang hollowly in the room, fading and leaving them in silence. Blue cleared his throat and returned his attention to the half-filled pan, "Why don't you both have another serving," he said brightly, but Edge could hear the steel in his voice. This was not an argument he was going to win.

He held up his plate, took his extra serving as his due punishment and it was still delicious, even tainted with the taste of his shame.

* * *

There was no reason for him to feel faintly nauseated when he went outside a short time later; his magic absorbed the food readily, converting it to energy. It wasn't as if it stayed around to digest. The sensation still lingered, worsened as he turned the corner to the back of the house and found Stretch standing back there, his untied laces trailing in the slushy snow and fresh butts littering the ground at his feet. Too many. 

"You're going to make yourself sick," Edge told him quietly.

Stretch only took another sharp drag, exhaling the cloud of pale smoke in Edge's direction, "what the fuck do you care? i mean, since you don't want my _charity_." He spat the word out as if it tasted foul.

"Stretch—"

"just don't," he said curtly. He flicked the spent butt into the snow with the others and fumbled another out of the crumpled pack. "i don't want to hear it. you know," he added, the words blurred around the cigarette as he lit it, "i get that you're fucking me because i'm easy. i mean, i get that. Over the years i kept my legs spread so much my knees probably have their own zip codes, but…" he struggled, choking briefly on smoke and words before he managed to whisper, "how dare you?"

This was not anything he'd ever seen from Stretch before and Edge was too shaken to protest, "What?"

"how dare you come here and play friends with us and act like it would be fucking charity. i don't…i can't…" He pressed the heels of his hands into his sockets, taking deep, shaky breaths. "forget me, how can you possibly think that of _blue_? he adores you two, he has since the first time you stepped out of that damned machine!"

The fuse of his own temper caught and anger surged through him as strong as bolt of electricity. He took Stretch by the shoulders and shook him, almost roughly. "How dare I? You think I'm a fool? That I'm blind? You are not easy," Edge snarled into his startled face. "By the stars, you are anything but easy! Everything with you is a challenge, everything has to be a struggle. Nearly anyone would be easier to handle than you, so don't you dare think it's about that!"

Stretch sagged in his grasp and Edge had to pull him closer, wrapping an arm around him. He leaned weakly but his grip was strong, tight, holding Edge against him as he rested the top of his skull against Edge's chest, that tight grip wound into the front of his shirt.

"then how can you think me wanting to help you is charity," he asked plaintively, speaking to Edge's sternum. "why do you see pity when i look at you?"

"I don't-" Edge tried.

"why won't you let me care about you?" As raw as if had been ripped from him, Stretch shuddered once, the bones of his fingers flexing, loosening briefly before gripping tighter yet.

Edge sighed. Tentatively, he slid his arms around Stretch, pulling him in closer. He didn't resist, only fell against him as if Edge had cut his strings. 

"Caring about me will get you hurt," he warned. His brother was proof of that, the ragged crack in his skull all the evidence needed to show that Edge hadn't protected him. 

"so does trying not to," Stretch said, low and Edge nodded. Yes. He could understand that. 

"All right," Edge said quietly. He held Stretch close, all his light weight leaning into him. He was shivering, possibly from the cold, possibly from this emotional avalanche, unexpected and brutal as it was. "All right. Let's go back inside. "

He pulled and Stretch followed, almost staggering, and if he noticed Edge palming the rest of his cigarettes, he didn't protest. Edge tucked them away and silently guided Stretch back to the house. 

If they were going to care for each other, then perhaps this was a good place to start.

-finis-


End file.
